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I traveled to Washington D.C. yesterday to meet with Congressman Tim Murphy.  I asked him to consider applying for a Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) office to be located in Westmoreland County and to also apply for a HIGH INTENSITY DRUG TRAFFIC AREA (HIDTA) program area designation from the Justice Department for the County.  Additionally, I asked Congressman Murphy’s office to help establish and facilitate collaboration among the U.S. Attorney’s office and his regional programs with that of the Westmoreland County government officials...

 Just a month after Charles Schwab & Co., Inc. announced they were reducing trading commissions, they have delivered more good news! Schwab anticipated that their competitors would likely respond to their significant commission decreases and they were right. Now, Schwab is adjusting their pricing again to remain competitive and make sure that trading commissions will never become a barrier to choosing them as a Custodian.

Starting on March 3, 2017, Schwab reduced their standard online equity and ETF trade commissions further, from $6.95 to $4.95¹ per trade.  Schwab’s cost of investing will continue to remain among the lowest in the industry.

¹_{Restrictions apply.} ..

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Charles (“Chuck”) Schwab started the Charles Schwab Corporation in 1971 as a traditional brokerage company and in 1974 became a pioneer in the discount brokerage business. In 1975, after a Securities and Exchange Commission mandate deregulated trading commissions, Chuck established a series of radically different policies, including cutting the charges to his customers in half compared to his competitors. He was known for offering a combination of low prices with fast, efficient order executions and soon became the nation’s largest discount broker. Today, Charles Schwab Corporation is the nation’s largest publicly traded investment services firm with around $2.83 trillion in client assets.

Schwab lowers the cost of investing

Bernie Clark, EVP and Head of Charles Schwab Advisor Services, announced that in an effort to put advisors and their clients first, Schwab is now lowering the cost of investing. Schwab made this change to not only help advisors better serve their clients but so advisors can be the best fiduciary possible. ..

 With the memory of the recent Distributed Denial of Service (DDOS) attack on a part of the internet that redirected traffic fresh in my mind, I was taken aback when I read an article stating that over eighty different Sony products that connect to the internet can easily be hacked.

And then I read another article about a new botnet attacking the West Coast using the Internet of Things (IoT).  This Internet of Things has many useful, geeky and otherwise, nifty-neato things.  We have thermostats, security cameras, appliances and home entertainment gadgetry that can be remotely accessed by our smartphones and other carry along devices.  Therein lies the double edged sword.  The Mirai botnet used to attack these connected devices has caused some of the largest DDOS attacks this year.  It did not need to infect a PC as we think of computers but instead used the small computers in internet connected thermostats, home security cameras and so on.  Why? Because it could.  How? Mainly because the passwords of these devices were never changed from the default ones they came with. 

According to the security experts at CloudFlare, this new and currently unnamed botnet has the potential to be more damaging than the Mirai attack.  They also think it will utilize these IoT gadgets in much the same way Mirai did.  ..

“One of the greatest dignities of humankind is that each successive generation is invested in the welfare of each new generation.”

– Fred Rogers..

                           Annuities

“Annuities are not bought, they’re sold"..

As of 5/31/16, 97% of S&P 500 companies have reported their earnings for the first quarter of 2016. According to S&P Dow Jones Indices, of those that have reported we have operating earnings per share of $24.09 which is a decline of -6.7% from one year ago. The 12 month operating earnings per share is $98.73 for the index, a decline of -11.45% from one year ago and a decline of -1.71% from the previous quarter. This marks the fourth consecutive quarter of declining year-over-year earnings and the fifth consecutive quarter of year-over-year revenue declines.

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The Con Artists Are Back: Part II

IT’S NOT PARANOIA IF THEY REALLY ARE OUT TO GET YOU!..

The Con Artists Are Back.

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 Charles Schwab Investment Outlook 2016

Columbus, Ohio: February 11^th, 2016

Patrick Wallace and Cindy Jones had the opportunity to attend the annual Charles Schwab Investment Outlook held each year in Columbus, Ohio. This one day conference brings together experts in their respective fields to give their insights on the markets, economy, politics, and investment strategies. This year we were excited to see Chief Political Strategist for Horizon Investments, Greg Valliere and Chief Investment Strategist for Charles Schwab & Co., Inc., Liz Ann Sonders in addition to several new speakers. Below are some highlights from each session:..

Once or twice a year, Patrick Wallace is invited by Dr. Robert Camp, Dean of the Business College at Indiana University of Pennsylvania, to speak to the Seminar in Finance students at IUP as part of their “Hot Topics in Finance” speaker program. This is an initiative of the Finance and Legal Studies Department that brings professionals working in the finance industry into the classroom to speak to students throughout the year. Covington Investment Advisors is proud to support the local community and provide students with an overview of several topics relating to finance so that they can use the tools they learn in their future careers.

Please click on the link below to read an article written in response to Patrick Wallace’s last presentation at IUP early this month. ..

Covington had the pleasure of attending the Charles Schwab Impact Conference held in Boston, MA this year. This marks the 25^th year of the conference with around 1,800 advisors from all over the country in attendance. Each year Schwab strives to provide best in class speakers from various backgrounds who offer their unique perspectives on their field of expertise. This year’s keynote speakers ranged from cellist Yo-Yo Ma to Alan Mulally, former CEO of Ford Motor Company.

In addition to the in-depth educational sessions we attended, highlights of the general sessions were the following:

• Bernie Clark – Executive Vice President of Charles Schwab & Co., Inc. and head of Schwab Advisor Services:

• Over the past 10 years, the Registered Investment Adviser (RIA) industry has grown from $1.6 trillion to $4 trillion.
• There are over 14,000 RIA firms today.
• RIA’s employ over 32,000 people.
• There’s $23 trillion in untapped opportunities for Advisors.

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Opening Night at the Westmoreland Symphony Orchestra

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Fort Ligonier Days

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 IDENTITY THEFT 101

“But he that filches from me my good name/Robs me of that which not enriches him/And makes me poor indeed.”

-Shakespeare, Othello, act iii. Sc. 3. ..

Why Not Return to Glass-Steagall?

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Some Thoughts on Computer Security

By: Daniel P. Messmer
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The Need for an Independent Federal Reserve Bank

(Or a Perfect Federal Reserve Bank Cannot Be Taylor Made)..